1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data display system, a data output apparatus, an image forming apparatus, a data display apparatus and a data display program. More specifically, the present invention relates to a data display system, a data output apparatus, an image forming apparatus, a data display apparatus and a data display program for displaying and outputting data of a WEB page and the like using a data definition file such as XML (extensible markup language) and a style definition file such as XSLT (XSL (extensible stylesheet language) transformations).
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a technique of transmitting data from one device to another device in a network environment and displaying the data there has been known. By way of example, such a technique is employed in a system in which a device status is transmitted from the device of interest to a PC (personal computer) connected to a network and the status is displayed using a browser software on the PC or the device status is determined.
When a display is to be given in such a system, language for display or items to be displayed may be changed. When WEB pages are described in HTML (hypertext markup language), pages described in HTML language-by-language and item-by-item to be displayed are stored and necessary page or pages are transmitted upon request. When WEB pages are described in XML and XSLT, a plurality of page sets of XML and XSLT are prepared, stored in a server or the like, and necessary pages are transmitted upon request, as in the case of HTML.
In a system in which a PC connected to a network displays or sets a status of another device connected to the network, every time a user requests to change display language, it is necessary to transmit an HTML page or the like prepared in the requested language.
Similarly, when XML and XSLT are used, it is necessary to transmit the object XSLT and XML upon request.
In connection with the above described technique, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2002-175297 discloses a technique in which a plurality of information resources are arbitrarily defined in accordance with an object of management and displayed on a WEB browser.
The conventional technique described above, however, has a problem that a large number of files must be downloaded at the time of display (or a change of display). Further, it is necessary to prepare in advance a plurality of different files (for example, files in each of a plurality of languages), and therefore, there is a formidable burden on the user to prepare and maintain the files.